EU leaders to debate call for 'humanitarian pause' in Gaza - CNA

Germany, wary of urging a more definitive halt that could tie Israel's hands, has mooted calls for humanitarian "windows" or "pauses" in the plural.

"Letters, commas, language matter, and that's how you find agreements," said a senior EU official.

But diplomats from some EU nations warn that delays over finding the right words as the death toll mounts are hitting the bloc's global standing and leaving it flailing in the face of developments.

UKRAINE OVERSHADOWED

The eruption of violence in the Middle East has sparked fears the West could get distracted from Russia's war on Ukraine 20 months into the invasion.

The fresh crisis comes at a moment when turmoil in the US Congress has already raised questions about the sustainability of Washington's military aid.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed on Tuesday that "support will in no way be impacted by the fact that we of course since the horrible morning hours of Oct 7 have focused on Israel and the Middle East".

Chief among EU measures meant to reassure Kyiv is a plan - earlier estimated at €20 billion (US$21.09 billion) over four years - for a defence fund for Ukraine as part of broader Western security commitments.

Diplomats say progress has been held up by Hungary, Russia's closest ally in the bloc, and leaders are set to task the bloc's foreign policy chief to report back on the issue in December.

There will also be calls to impose new sanctions on Moscow that could include banning Russian diamond imports once the G7 agrees on a way of tracing them.

In addition, a plan for using the revenues from frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine will be discussed.

Looming over the discussion on Ukraine will be the country's next steps in its push to join the EU.

The bloc's executive arm is to give an assessment on Nov 8 on whether to open formal accession talks with Kyiv.

Then it will be up to EU leaders to decide whether to adopt any recommendations by the end of the year.

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2023-10-26 03:11:00Z
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Police hunt for man linked to major mass shootings in US city of Lewiston, Maine - The Straits Times

LEWISTON, Maine - Hundreds of police searched the city of Lewiston and surrounding areas of Maine state for a man sought in connection with mass shootings at a bar and a bowling alley, as news outlets reported a death toll ranging from 16 to 22, with dozens more wounded.

Officials said there were multiple casualties but declined to provide figures.

State and local police identified Robert R. Card, 40, as a person of interest in the case after previously posting on Facebook photographs of a man wielding what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle.

The pictures from one of Wednesday’s crime scenes showed a bearded man in a brown hoodie and jeans, holding the weapon in the firing position.

“We have literally hundreds of police officers working around the state of Maine to investigate this case to locate Mr Card, who is a person of interest,” Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck told a news conference.

Several media reported that a Maine law enforcement bulletin identified Card as a trained firearms instructor and member of the US Army reserve who recently reported that he had mental health issues, including hearing voices. It also said he threatened to shoot up a National Guard base.

“Card was also reported to have been committed to mental health facility for two weeks during summer 2023 and subsequently released,” said the notice from the Maine Information & Analysis Centre.

Reuters could not authenticate the bulletin. The Associated Press reported it was circulated to law enforcement officials.

The bar and the bowling alley are about 6.5km apart in Lewiston, a former textile hub and town of 38,000 people in Androscoggin County about 56km north of Maine’s largest city, Portland.

Media reports picked up by Reuters earlier said there was a third shooting site at a Walmart distribution centre, but Walmart later issued a statement to local media saying no shooting occurred on their property.

The Central Maine Medical Centre in Lewiston issued a statement saying it was “reacting to a mass casualty, mass shooter event” and coordinating with area hospitals to take patients.

President Joe Biden has been briefed and will continue to receive updates, a US official said in Washington.

Mr Biden spoke by phone individually to Maine Governor Janet Mills, Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, and Congressman Jared Golden about the shooting in Lewiston and offered full federal support in the wake of the attack, the White House said.

If the death toll of 22 is confirmed, the massacre would be the deadliest in the United States since at least August 2019, when a gunman opened fire on shoppers at an El Paso Walmart with an AK-47 rifle, killing 23 in a shooting that prosecutors branded an anti-Hispanic hate crime, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The 22 fatalities would also be on par with the number of homicides that normally occur in Maine in any given year. The number of annual homicides in the state has fluctuated between 16 and 29 since 2012, according to Maine State Police.

The number of US shootings in which four or more people were shot has surged since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, with 647 occurring in 2022 and 679 projected to occur in 2023, based on trends as of July, according to data from the archive.

The deadliest US mass shooting on record is the massacre of 58 people by a gunman firing on a Las Vegas country music festival from a high-rise hotel perch in 2017. REUTERS

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2023-10-26 02:03:00Z
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Israel bombards Gaza, prepares invasion as Biden urges path to two states - The Straits Times

GAZA/JERUSALEM - Israel has kept up its strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza as it prepares for a ground invasion of the enclave, as world powers at the United Nations failed to secure plans to deliver critical humanitarian aid.

US President Joe Biden, in remarks looking beyond the war that broke out with an Oct 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants, said the future should include a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

“Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live side by side in safety, dignity and in peace,” Mr Biden said at a joint press conference in Washington with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Biden said he believes one reason Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages, is to prevent normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed over 6,500 people in Gaza, the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip said on Wednesday.

Reuters has been unable to independently verify the casualty figures of either side.

Over 7,600 rockets have been fired towards Israel since Oct 7 out of Gaza, according to Israeli government data, while there have been repeated clashes along the northern border.

Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said two people were being treated for shrapnel and glass wounds after a rocket fired from Gaza on Wednesday night struck the central Israeli city of Rishon Letzion, south of Tel Aviv.

Aid proposals fail in UN Security Council votes

At the United Nations, Russia and China vetoed a US-drafted Security Council resolution calling for pauses in hostilities to allow much needed food, water and medicine to be delivered to Palestinian civilians.

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2023-10-25 22:37:00Z
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Republican Mike Johnson elected US House speaker, ending leadership vacuum - The Straits Times

WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives elected Republican Mike Johnson, a conservative with little leadership experience, as its speaker on Wednesday after a turbulent three weeks that left the rudderless chamber unable to respond to the Middle East crisis or carry out any of its basic duties.

The 220 to 209 vote elevated third-term congressman Johnson, 51, to a speaker’s chair that has been vacant since Kevin McCarthy was ousted on Oct 3 by a small group of hardline Republicans angry about a deal with Democrats that averted a partial government shutdown.

In the weeks that followed, Republicans who narrowly control the House considered and rejected three possible replacements before settling on Johnson, a Louisiana lawyer backed by former President Donald Trump who spent years advancing conservative policies like school prayer.

First elected in 2016, Johnson will be the least experienced House speaker in decades. He is best known as the author of an unsuccessful appeal by 126 House Republicans after the 2020 presidential election to get the Supreme Court to overturn election results in states that Trump had lost.

Johnson declined to answer a question about that effort shortly after his nomination on Tuesday night, while other Republicans booed and heckled the reporter who asked it.

In a letter to colleagues, Johnson has vowed to advance overdue spending legislation and ensure that the US government does not shut down when current funding expires on Nov 17.

He will also have to respond to Democratic President Joe Biden’s US$106 billion (S$145.38 billion) spending request for aid to Israel, Ukraine and US border security. While his Republicans broadly support funding for Israel and the US border, they are divided over further support for Ukraine.

While House leaders typically focus on fundraising and vote counting, Johnson is better known as an advocate for conservative social positions.

He has supported legislation that bars gender-related surgery and hormone treatment for transgender teens, prohibits mask mandates on airplanes, and tightens immigration and abortion restrictions.

Republicans narrowly control the House by a 221-212 margin, leaving them with little room for error on controversial votes. Their divisions were on display over the past few weeks, as they nominated three candidates for speaker – Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan and Tom Emmer – but were unable to provide the 217 votes needed to win the speaker’s gavel.

As speaker, Johnson will have to confront the same challenges that felled McCarthy and stymied his would-be successors. They include the demands of the caucus’ hardline members and the reality that with a Democratic majority in the Senate and Biden occupying the Oval Office, no laws can currently be passed in Washington without bipartisan support. REUTERS

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2023-10-25 18:12:58Z
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YouTuber gets warning, 5 videos removed after dodging train fares, stealing food in Japan - CNA

Fidias' video has since been reuploaded by other users.

One of the clips show him entering a hotel and pretending to be a guest in order to get free breakfast.

"I just (got) access to a five-star Japanese buffet. And we're leaving the hotel without getting caught and without any problem," he triumphantly tells the camera.

Other parts of the video show the four begging for money from locals to pay for tickets.

His behaviour has sparked condemnation, becoming the latest example of fame-seeking foreigners riling locals in Japan.

"Another strange, annoying YouTuber from abroad emerged. In addition to this guy Fidias, the three others should be arrested," one social media user said.

Another said: "Surprisingly, comments section to his (online post) is full of applause. (Police) should arrest him to prevent copycat crimes from happening."

Regional train operator JR Kyushu said it was studying the footage before deciding whether to inform the police.

"We are aware of the case and investigating facts around it," a spokesman told AFP.

The YouTuber issued an apology on Tuesday.

"Hello beautiful people I apologise to the Japanese people if we made them feel bad that was not our goal! From now on I am going to be make more research to the cultures we go to and try to prevent this from happening again," he said on his channel. 

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2023-10-25 11:17:00Z
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Hong Kong's leader says to create new national security law in 2024 - CNA

HONG KONG: Hong Kong leader John Lee said on Wednesday (Oct 25) that the semi-autonomous city would create its own national security law in 2024, four years after Beijing imposed sweeping legislation aimed at silencing dissent.

Massive pro-democracy protests rocked the finance hub in 2019, bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the streets to call for greater freedoms and more autonomy from mainland China.

In response, Beijing imposed a national security law to punish four major crimes - secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces - with sentences ranging up to life in prison.

Security chief turned leader Lee said during his second-ever policy address on Wednesday that "some countries are undermining China and the implementation of 'one country, two systems'" in Hong Kong.

"External forces continue to meddle in Hong Kong affairs," the Beijing-anointed leader said, adding that the city would "continue to safeguard national security and improve its relevant legal system and enforcement mechanisms".

"The government is pressing ahead to draw up effective legislative options and will complete the legislative exercise in 2024 to fulfil our constitutional duty," Lee said.

Under the Basic Law - the city's mini-constitution - Hong Kong is required to make its own law combating seven security-related crimes, including treason and espionage.

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2023-10-25 04:59:13Z
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Finland says gas pipeline likely broken by Chinese ship dragging anchor - CNA

HELSINKI: Damage to a Baltic Sea gas pipeline earlier this month is believed to have been caused by a ship dragging a large anchor along the seabed, but it was too early to tell if this was an accident or a deliberate act, Finnish police said on Tuesday (Oct 24).

Investigators said they had now retrieved a lost anchor from the seabed location where the pipeline ruptured on Oct 8, and were investigating whether it belonged to a Chinese container vessel.

Police have previously said damage to the Balticconnector subsea gas pipeline and two Baltic Sea telecoms cables was cause by external mechanical force and were investigating whether this was a case of sabotage or caused by accident.

Broad drag marks were seen on the seabed leading up to where the pipeline was broken, and the anchor was lying immediately after the damage spot. A narrower path was seen on the seabed stretching onwards for dozens of miles, police said.

A piece of the anchor, one of its two spikes, had broken off, they added.

"The next questions are about whether it was intentional, negligence, poor seamanship, and that's where we get into whether there could be a motive for what's going on," National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) chief Robin Lardot told a press conference.

"But it's too early to answer that at this stage," he added.

The NBI on Friday said they were focusing their probe on the Chinese NewNew Polar Bear container vessel that had travelled above the pipeline and the cables at the time of the damage.

The NBI on Tuesday said they had established that the NewNew Polar Bear was in fact missing one of its front anchors, and said they had tried unsuccessfully to contact the ship to ask whether this was the one retrieved in the Gulf of Finland.

China called on Monday for an "objective, fair and professional" investigation into the pipeline damage.

The incident cut pipeline gas supplies to Finland, although the country expects to manage with imports of liquefied natural gas via ship deliveries to its Inkoo port.

As a result of the damage, NATO has stepped up patrols in the Baltic Sea.

In September 2022, the larger Nord Stream pipelines connecting Germany and Russia were damaged by explosions that authorities have said were deliberate acts of sabotage, although it is still unclear who was behind the attack.

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2023-10-25 00:17:00Z
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